NK negotiate

The pressure is on the Trump administration to negotiate with North Korea. How has this strategy worked in the past? In 1994 the Clinton administration sent Jimmy Carter on a secret mission to NK. Clinton’s administration successfully established a deal known as the Joint Framework Agreement which offered $4 billion worth of nuclear, energy, economic and diplomatic benefits in exchange for the halting of North Korea’s nuclear program in 1994. The deal also included two light-water nuclear reactors, which were believed to be more difficult to use to make weapons than Pyongyang’s plutonium reactor. North Korea continued to develop their Nuke program and in 2006 an attempt was made to convince them to stop. But that plan didn’t really hold and North Korea said it had successfully completed a nuclear test in 2006. In 2007, an agreement was reached to send $400 million worth of fuel, food and other aid in exchange for North Korea shutting down its main nuclear reactor. President Obama tried to reason with NK but finally resorted to threats. He went as far as to threaten the “military might” of the U.S. in 2014 as debates over true capabilities of the North continued. Now the ball is in Trump’s court and he is expected to negotiate. Does that mean the US will send aid to pacify NK? Is that what the American people want? Could that be considered back mail? I am reminded of the old cold war phrase of better red than dead.